<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft&reg; HTML Help Workshop 4.1">
<Title>Map MFD</Title>
<LINK REL="stylesheet" HREF="Orbiter.css" TYPE="TEXT/CSS">
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<p class="header"><a class="header" href="intro.htm">Orbiter</a> &gt; <a class="header" href="mfd.htm">MFD</a> &gt; Map</p>

<h1>Map MFD</h1>

<p class="small">
<table cols=3 width=100% cellspacing=1 cellpadding=2 border=1>
<tr>
<td width=33% align=center><a href="mfd_map_ctrl.htm">Controls</a></td>
<td width=33% align=center><a href="mfd_map_disp.htm">Display</a></td>
<td align=center><a href="mfd_map_cfg.htm">Config</a></td>
</tr>
</table></p>

<p>The Map MFD mode shows a surface map of a planet or moon in an equatorial projection. Planets for which a map is not available only show the longitude and latitude grid.</p>

<p>The intersection of the plane of your current orbit with the surface of the planet is shown in a green and or red curve. Your own position on the trajectory is shown with a white cross. The green section of the curve is the part of the orbit above the planet surface. The red part, if shown, indicates the section of the orbit below the planet surface.
The presence of a red section therefore indicates a ballistic trajectory which will result in a surface impact unless the periapsis is raised by an engine burn.
The intersection points of the trajectory with the surface are indicated with red and green boxes, where the red box is the impact point.
The impact point display can be used as an approximate aid for timing reentry burns.
Note that even orbits which do not intersect the surface may not be stable if they pass through planetary atmospheres and cause significant drag.</p>

<p>In addition to your own orbit, the orbital plane of a target object (e.g. a spacecraft or moon) orbiting the same central body can be displayed. This trajectory will be shown in yellow, and the target position is indicated by a yellow cross. Sub-surface parts of the target trajectory are not specially marked.</p>

<p>Note that the trajectory curves show the intersection of the orbital plane at the current time, and not the projected ground tracks of the orbiting bodies. This means that the curves will shift horizontally over the planet surface with time, due to the rotation of the planet underneath.</p>

<p>Surface bases are indicated by red squares. The position of the currently selected base and the distance to it are displayed. In addition, the projections of the orbital planes of the ship and the selected orbital target onto the planet surface are plotted.</p>

<p>The map display can show either the full planet surface in global view (360&deg; x 180&deg;) or a smaller (180&deg; x 90&deg;) area in 2x zoom mode. Scrolling buttons allow to pan the visible part of the map display.</p>

<p>Alternatively, by switching to Track mode, the vessel's current position is kept centered in the display. In this case, the scrolling function is disabled.</p>

</BODY>
</HTML>
